In the I-R hybrid dysgenesis system, Drosophila melanogaster strains fall into two categories denoted inducer (I) and reactive (R). Among the reactive strains we can distinguish strains with weak, medium or strong reactivity levels. These levels are inherited in a complex way involving both chromosomal and nonchromosomal determinants, the nonchromosomal determinant being mainly maternally inherited. We were interested in determining the molecular basis of this maternal transmission. In this article we analyse the possible implication of the mitochondrial DNA in the determination of the reactivity levels. The mtDNA was analysed in lines with very different reactivity levels with the aim of correlating sequence differences with reactivity levels. The mtDNA was analysed by sequencing and restriction fragment length. No correlation was established between reactivity level and mtDNA sequence. This may favour the hypothesis that epigenetic changes would be responsible for the different reactivity levels and their transgenerational transmission.